Boat People SOS still helping Asian community with oil spill claims

Oil spill claims czar Ken Feinberg answers a question during a meeting with possible claimants at the Bayou La Batre Community Center Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010. Feinberg visited the Southern Alabama fishing community Saturday as part of his efforts to educate the region effected by the oil spill prior to his takeover of the claims process on Monday. (Press-Register/Bill Starling)

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. -- David Pham said he may spend hours each weekday on the telephone with staff members at the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.

As program administrator with Boat People SOS Inc. in Bayou La Batre, Pham interprets oil spill complaints for clients who struggle with English.

South Mobile County fishing communities are home to significant numbers of Asian immigrant families. The Boat People SOS group helps those who are unable to navigate English or have no job options outside of the hard-hit fishing industry.

Pham said that he’s dealing with fewer claims problems than before. Still, “We have people walking in every day,” he said.

On a recent morning, Pham was answering a reporter’s questions while his call to the national claims agency was on hold.

He was trying to help Kim Chi Thai find out why she wasn’t receiving the full amount that she believed she was due on her claims check.

Two others were already waiting to speak to him in the office located on the Bayou’s main thoroughfare.

“We can’t get answers,” Pham said.

The checks “keep getting lower,” said Thai, a shrimpboat worker who is out of a job due to the oil spill.

Pham interpreted for her as she described her situation.

Thai said she started having problems with her checks once Ken Feinberg took over the national claims operation. “When BP was handling things it was a lot easier,” Thai said.

Often, Pham said, if you are “lucky enough to get someone to answer the phone” the claims facility can merely relay the status of a claim. That information, however, is already available to the claimant.

While hoping for bigger checks and better times, Thai said that she’s trying “not to spend too much money.”

She said she “feels every kind of emotion,” from being sad to being worried about how she is going to provide for four children.